Sara McLean

About Sara McLean

I leverage my decades of DOJ experience to provide compliance counseling and representation to clients facing False Claims Act (FCA) and other civil fraud issues, investigations and litigation. With a proven track record of litigation success in FCA actions, I am one of the most experienced FCA lawyers and civil fraud litigators in the market.Prior to joining Akin, I led DOJ’s FCA enforcement as Assistant Director for 16 years of the Civil Fraud Section and for 10 years as a trial attorney responsible for FCA cases. I handled and supervised all aspects of FCA and civil fraud investigations.Clients rely on me as a strategic advisor drawing on my high-level government experience and my instrumental role guiding FCA enforcement efforts. I have litigated and/or supervised FCA matters in the key areas of health care, cyber, education, procurement/government contracts, customs, trade, energy and financial fraud.I offer my deep knowledge of the law and the government’s approach to these cases to help clients avoid risks and navigate these matters to a favorable result, whether that be a declination or dismissal by DOJ of a qui tam complaint filed under the FCA’s whistleblower provisions, a self-disclosure, a settlement or a win in litigation.I negotiated and oversaw scores of settlements and won victories at every phase of litigation, including summary judgment, trial and appeal, securing approximately $2 billion in recoveries. I trained DOJ attorneys on settlement and developed language used in DOJ settlement agreements.My DOJ civil fraud practice ran the gamut of government programs and agencies. One focus was health care fraud matters, including alleged Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Act violations and other overbilling. I led DOJ’s civil cyber-fraud enforcement efforts involving data privacy and other cybersecurity violations. I handled and supervised matters alleging contract and grant fraud, mineral royalty underpayments and mortgage fraud, as well as claims against universities and for trade-related violations.I began my legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable John W. Bissell in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. I hold a J.D. from Yale Law School and an A.B. summa cum laude from Princeton University.

Experience

1. Partner

   Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

   Nov 2025 — Present · Washington, DC, US

Education

• Princeton University

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, History, Russian Studies

  1989 — 1993

• Yale Law School

  JD, Law

  1994 — 1997